If you have one job as an organizational leader to ensure the success of your technology, it's to care about it. If you're allocating time and resources, the things you care about in your organization get focus, resources, oxygen, accountability, and the opportunity to thrive.
But if you have a second priority, it may just be to put capable people on the job, and then to clear the obstructions out of their path.
It's true, we've worked with several organizations where there weren’t people blocking forward progress, and it was great. When everyone is ready to be open-minded about new, more efficient and effective ways of working, ready to bring thoughtfulness and humility to the table in search of better adjustments every day… what a powerful culture can be quickly created.
But sometimes, for whatever combination of reasons both understandable and mysterious, you can encounter people who perceive certain types of progress as a threat and seem to devote themselves to undermining their colleagues who are working towards it.
All manner of efforts should be made to get such people on board and to hear out their concerns. In most cases, people come around when there is enough communication, or when they get some initial exposure to a better way of working and start to feel the benefits. Or when they realize the threat they initially perceived isn't coming to pass.
But sometimes such people don't come around. And here's the thing. As a leader of the organization it's not enough to simply chalk it up to a "disagreement" or a clash of personalities or styles. You're in your seat for a reason. You're the judge and jury, and the justice system only works if you play your role and give the situation a fair trial. It's up to you to dig in, hear the arguments, and put your finger on the scale in the direction that makes the most sense for the organization.
And when you do that, you'll be in a position to establish a clear mandate heard by all. You'll be able to make clear that it's time for people to get on board. That there is space for everyone who is focused on being part of productive solutions, but there is no place for people to cling to outdated and wasteful models of working that squander precious resources and opportunity.
You're the leader. You want an organization that can compete in an ever-more demanding landscape. That functions a little bit better every day than it did the day before. Let reason win the day, and clear the path for the people on your team who are fighting for a better tomorrow.